Theses and Dissertations
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Item Spatial patterns of species richness and distribution in breeding land birds of the Central Indian Highlands.(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2006) Jaypal, R.; Qureshi, Qamar; Chellam, RaviVariations in number and distribution of species in space constitute one of the fundamental themes in ecological research. It is being increasingly recognized that studies on species diversity at regional scale are essential to understand the mechanisms of maintenance of biological diversity. Emergence of macroecology, where large-scale ecological phenomena are examined to test biogeographical hypotheses, has considerably widened the scope of these approaches to include application of empirical patterns in finding solutions to conservation issues. This study, adopting this acroecological framework, investigates the spatial patterns in species richness and distribution of breeding land birds in central India. 2. The study was conducted across the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges, collectively known as Central Indian Highlands, in Madhya Pradesh, India between March, 2002 and September, 2005. Bird species composition is found to be primarily determined by vegetation structure at regional level and by floristic composition at local scale. This finding is consistent with earlier observations that birds respond, in their species composition, to vegetation structure across habitats and to vegetation composition within habitats. The species-area relationship in central Indian birds is best described by power function curve with a slope of 0.12. The acutely low slope points to the extremely sparse nature of spatial gradient in bird species diversity of Central Indian Highlands. The findings of the study clearly illustrate the bias in PA network that a single-species approach can potentially bring about. The recent rediscovery of the critically endangered Forest Owlet (Heteroglaux blewitti), after a gap of 113 years, from these low-rainfall dry deciduous forests highlights the importance of extending adequate protection to all major biomes and the need for multi-species approach in design and maintenance of an efficient PA network.Item Aspects of ecology of Hangul (Cervus elephas hanglu) in Dachigam National Park, Kashmir, India.(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2006) Ahmad, Khursheed; Sathyakumar, S.; Qureshi, QamarThe Hangul or Kashmir Stag (Cervus elaphus hanglu) is a highly threatened species that has a restricted distribution confined to the Kashmir region. The Hangul is a one of the four eastern most subspecies of Red Deer of Europe (Cervus elaphus) and belongs to order Artiodactyla (even-toed animals) and family Cervidae or deer family. Compared to a very wide global distribution of Red deer, the Hangul has had a limited global distribution. Hangul were once distributed widely in the mountains of Kashmir in an arc of 40 Km extending from Karen in Kishenganga catchments in Bandipora over to Dorus in Lolab valley and Erin catchments in Bandipora to Chinab valley in Kishtwar. Some population of Hangul also occurred in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. However, during the recent past Hangul appears to have drastically declined from its past distribution range, possibly due to large scale biotic pressures owing to poaching, habitat fragmentation and degradation. At present the last surviving population of Hangul occurs only in 171 Km2 Dachigam National Park, although some relic populations also occur in the adjoining areas. The population of Hangul in Kashmir in 1900 was 3,000 and in 1947, there were 2,000 Hangul still surviving. But ten years later, the population got drastically reduced to about 400 individuals, and in 1970 Hangul population estimated was 140 - 170. The recent censuses carried out by the State Wildlife Protection Department in 2004 puts the Hangul population between 209-243 individuals. The most alarming threat to Hangul in Dachigam has been reported to be the excessive over grazing in the alpine meadows of Upper Dachigam by livestock including sheep and goat of the Government Sheep Breeding Farm located in Dachigam National Park. The past studies carried out in Dachigam National Park have shown that the range of Hangul In Dachigam National Park is restricted to Lower Dachigam with eastern boundaries at Gratnar, Waskhar and west of Dagwan. Keeping in view the given background and based on my preliminary surveys in in the first year of this study, the intensive study was carried out upto the above given boundaries of Lower Dachigam. There have been very little studies on Hangul compared to extensive studies carried out on its conspecifics Red Deer and Elk, and Himalayan Ungulates. There is still a lack of baseline information on the aspects of Hangul ecology prerequisite of its effective management and conservation planning. This stl1dy was as such initiated after a wildlife research gap of about 15 years in Kashmir valley in general and Dachigam in particular. This study was aimed at enhancing our scientific knowledge on the aspects of Hangul ecology such as population, habitat use and feeding ecology which are prerequisite of its effective long term management and conservation planning. During the study period (February 2001 to December 2004) a total of 693 surveys were carried out in these transects and survey blocks putting a total of 5668 km and 1839 hours effort, and a total of 326 Hangul sightings were recorded. All these Hangul sightings were recorded in lower Dachigam in an area of 41.20 km2 out of the total area of 171 Km2 of Dachigam National Park.Item Interactions Between Livestock and Ladakh Urial (Ovis vignei vigei)(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2003) Raghavan, Bindu; Bhatnagar, Yashveer; Qureshi, QamarThe Ladakh urial is a highly endangered and endemic subspecies of wild sheep. Past hunting pressures had decimated the population to extremely low levels. Recent estimates (1,000-1,500 individuals) suggest a marginal increase in numbers. The Ladakh urial occupies plateaus and gentle slopes along the lowermost elevations in the Indus and Shyok Valleys, areas that are easily accessible and heavily used by humans. This is also the most heavily populated area and due to geopolitical reasons, receives the highest developmental benefits. Due to such changes the Ladakh urial may be highly vulnerable to population decimation. Pastoralism is a way of life in bulk of the Ladakh Trans-Himalaya; a region Where wildlife including endangered species such as the urial and snow leopard are not restricted inside wildlife Protected Areas alone. Such species thus share their habitat with the over 3,00,000 livestock that occurs in the region. Recent studies from the Trans Himalaya have indicated competition with livestock as an important reason for the decimation of wild herbivore populations. This study thus aimed to investigate the interactions between the endangered Ladakh urial and livestock during the winter of 2002-03, a season of resource scarcity. We investigated the habitat selection of the Ladakh urial and its separation with livestock at the level of space, habitat variables and diet, to gather evidence for competition. Four trails were walked 10 times each to obtain information on the habitat usage by the urial and livestock. Further information on livestock use was gathered from the herders using semi-structured interviews and resource maps. Diet of both urial and livestock was investigated by examining recently foraged sites using 10, 1 mX1 m quadrats at each such site. All sightings from the trails were plotted on a 1 :50,000 501 Toposheet. A 500mX500m grid was overlaid on these locations to obtain the grids used exclusively by the urial and livestock and by both together to calculate spatial separation. Both, Ladakh urial and livestock primarily used the mid elevation zones (4,121- 4,400m) with gentle to moderate inclination (<30°). However, along the elevation gradient there was some separation in that the urial used the uppermost elevations to a substantial degree (44%) even during the cold winter season, which livestock avoided.The findings of this study thus show that the habitat and diet requirements of Ladakh urial and livestock sharing the range were similar during the winter season. The relatively high use of the sparsely vegetated uppermost elevations of the range by urial, where the cost of foraging is likely to be higher than the mid-elevations suggests that the urial were excluded from these areas by the livestock. We also reason that the relatively poor young:100 adult female ratio (31:100) may be a manifestation of the stress provided by such competition with livestock and survival in sub-optimal habitats.Item Food habits of tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in Sariska tiger reserve, Rajasthan(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2003) Avinandan, D.; Sankar, K.; Qureshi, QamarThe present study aims at understanding relationship between tiger and its prey in a semi arid tract. The study was conducted in Sariska tiger reserve, Rajasthan over a period of six months from November 2002 to April 2003. Density estimation of major wild and domestic prey species was done to assess availability to tigers in terms of density and biomass. The line transect method was used to estimation prey densityItem Floristic Composition and Patterns of Regeneration of Rainforest Trees in the Fragmented Forests of the Anamalai Hills, Southern Western Ghats(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2003) Balasubramaniam, Priya; Qureshi, Qamar; Chellam, RaviThe word diverse is almost a synonym for tropical rainforests. In no other habitat are found such an enormous number of life forms. These highly diverse systems are now facing severe threats as a result of habitat fragmentation. The aim of this study was to study the floristic composition and patterns of regeneration in the fragmented forests of the Anamalai hills, southern Western Ghats.Six fragments were chosen which varied in size and disturbance levels. They were- Iyerpadi (>2600ha), Andiparai (>185ha), Puduthotam (92ha), Pannimedu (66ha), Varattuparai 1c (11ha) and Varattuparai 4 (4ha). Quadrats of · 3 sizes were used to sample for different variables. 20 x 20m quadrats were used to enumerate tree sp, 5 x 5m quadrats were used to enumerate sapling sp and 1 x 1 m quadrats were used to count the numbers of seedlings. Height (m), GBH (cm), lopping I cutting signs, altitude, canopy cover, presence of weedy shrubs and ground cover of weedy herbs were the other variables measured. A total of 112 quadrats were laid, 25 in the first 4 fragments, 9 and 3 in the last two respectively. The findings revealed that tree and sapling generic richness showed a negative relationship with disturbance and time since isolation. Their correlations with area though positive were weak. Fragments were subjected to varied nature and levels of disturbance. Fragment characteristics such as area, time since isolation did influence the patterns of tree and sapling composition though weakly. There is an extremely weak correspondence between the tree and sapling composition of each fragment. There was a high number ' of non rainforest species in fragments which were relatively more disturbed. Relatively undisturbed fragments were more rich in rainforest trees · and saplings. Fragments showing higher levels of canopy openness were relatively more disturbed than others. Disturbed fragments also showed higher levels of weed invasion. Iyerpadi showed the highest generic richness in trees and saplings. Varattuparai 4 showed the least richness in both trees and sapling. Human disturbance due to its chronic. nature was the principal predictor of both tree and sapling composition.Item Habitat Occupancy by tiger Prey Species Across Anthropogenic Disturbance Regimes in Panna National Park, M.P.(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 1999) Mathai, Manu Verghese; Chundawat, R.S; Qureshi, QamarEffect of anthropogenic disturbance on habitat occupancy by tiger prey species was studied in Panna National Park, Madhya Pradesh. The study was conducted between November 1998 and April 1999. Line transect method and Pellet count technique were used to estimate abundance for all ungulates. Abundance estimates were used as a measure for intensity of habitat use by all species. The density estimates from line transects are associated with high coefficient of variation, which is largely a function of the small sample size resulting form extremely low densities. Ordination of habitat parameters grouped the transects based on habitat quality and structure, disturbance and topography. Anthropogenic disturbance was found to be an important factor, influencing habitat quality and differential use of habitats by animals. Sambar associated strongly with low disturbance hill habitats and poorly with relocated village sites and disturbed plateau transects. Indications from line transects and pellet count method concur in the case of sambar. Chital were very localised in their distribution being strongly restricted to secondary successional stages and ecotones between relocated village sites and woodland. Nilgai was a generalist in terms of habitat occupancy. In case of nilgai the two methods complement each other with the information they provide. The information from pellet-group counts was found to reflecting patterns that are not detected by direct sampling methods like line transects. Chinkara was strongly associated with the disturbed areas, largely because of its openness, but also found in the undisturbed areas. Wild pig, like nilgai, was a generalist, but showed preference for fringe areas of forest adjoining agricultural fields. Langur showed a marked preference for hill habitats and did not differentiate between disturbed and undisturbed hill habitats. Langur also showed the strongest association with water. The distribution of preferred prey, sambar and chital is localized. Nilgai, which is distributed throughout the study area, is found in habitats not favorable for tigers. Such a distribution would probably only support dispersing and transient animals. Therefore habitat management should be aimed at maintaining and expanding habitats suitable for cervids. Disturbance in the form of livestock grazing and woodcutting are largely responsible for maintaining poor habitat quality. The cause for these disturbances cannot be disconnected from the socio-economic and cultural reality of the people, both near and far, and therefore the conservation of the tiger has to address these aspects rather than restricting only to the biology of the animal.Item Environmental Influences on Space Utilisation and the Activity Budget of Captive Leopards (Panthera pardus fusca) in Five Zoos in Southern India(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 1999) Mallapur, Avanti; Chellam, Ravi; Qureshi, QamarA behavioural study was conducted on leopards in five zoos situated in Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Mysore and Bangalore between November 1998 and March 1999. Twenty six leopards were studied in five zoos of which sixteen were singly housed and ten were housed in groups. There were 16 males and 10 females. Only three of the 26 animals were captive born, 10 were captive reared and 13 were wild caught. Fourteen singly housed leopards were studied in on-exhibit and off exhibit enclosures on days with visitor presence and also on zoo holidays, two singly housed leopards were studied in the off-exhibit enclosures only. The group of ten at Bannerghatta Zoological Gardens, Bangalore was studied only in the on exhibit enclosure. Scan sampling method was used to record the behavioural patterns in leopards. The ethogram, which consists of all behaviour observed in five zoos lists 12 behavioural states and 29 behavioural events. The leopard enclosures were divided into imaginary blocks and the utilisation of these grids by the leopard was recorded alongwith behaviour at five-minute intervals. . Each leopard was studied for two days on-exhibit. two days off-exhibit and one zoo holiday. The leopard at Childrens' Park. Guindy was also studied for two excess visitor days during the Pongal festival. Information on each leopard was obtained from zoo records. No significant difference in behaviour was observed between males and females. and wild caught and captive-reared individuals. The behavioural repertoire of female leopards was significantly associated with their period of anoestrus. Stereotypic pacing was found to increase with enclosure size. Leopards housed in larger enclosures exhibited higher levels of activity and stereotypy behaviour. Smaller enclosures housed leopards that rested for longer proportions of time. Activity and resting behaviour peaks in the daily activity budget of the leopards were due to their crepuscular nature. The peaks in stereotypic behaviour in the daily activity budget were influenced by zookeepers' presence. Food-anticipatory behaviour was observed in all leopards before and during feed time. Individuals that were studied on-exhibit and off-exhibit exhibited higher levels of stereotypic behaviour off-exhibit and higher levels of activity behaviour on-exhibit. The presence of visitors also influences the behaviour repertoire of captive leopards. All singly housed leopards studied on days with visitor presence and zoo holidays exhibited higher levels of activity on zoo holidays and higher levels of resting behaviour on days with the presence of visitors. Six individuals were studied singly and then as pairs. The proportion of activity and resting behaviour exhibited when they were housed in pairs was higher and stereotypic behaviour, though not statistically significant, was lower than when they were singly housed. The utilisation of space differed between singly and group-housed leopards. Singly housed individuals utilised the "edge" and "back" zones of their enclosures more and the sructurally "enrich" zone less than group-housed leopards. Most of the leopards utilised the "edges" of their enclosure for stereotyping. the "back" zone for resting and the "rest" of the enclosure for activity behaviour. The structural features found within the enclosures that housed leopards were of two categories; sleeping platforms. trees and sheds that stimulated resting behaviour and logs. snags and tree trunks that stimulated activity behaviour. In enclosures that were structurally enriched with sleeping platforms, sheds or trees, leopards utilised the "enrich" zone of the enclosure for resting instead of the "back" zone. Enclosures having logs and snags. the "enrich" zones is utilised to exhibit activity behaviour. The utilisation of the structurally enriched zones of the enclosures was positively correlated with enclosure complexity. Leopards in structurally enriched enclosures exhibited higher levels of activity and lower levels of resting than the barren enclosures The factors that were found to influence the behavioural repertoire of captive leopards have been taken into consideration while recommending environmental enrichment techniques for the renovations of old enclosures and the construction of new ones.Item A Study on Bird Communities-Habitat Structure Relationships in Pench National Park, M.P.(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 1997) Jayapal, R.; Qureshi, QamarThere has been a number of studies on bird communities and their relationships with habitat features of floristics and physiognomy. In particular, the spatial distribution of bird communities along the axis of structural variables of a habitat has received a wider attention in the light of recent findings on landscape behaviour. Most of these works relate to either temperate or neotropical forests and our knowledge of community dynamics of tropical deciduous forests is very limited, for there has been hardly any comprehensive study in the tropics. The present study was done in the deciduous forests of the Pench National Park, Central India (M.P) between "November, 1996 and April, 1997 covering winter (November,1996-1anuary,1997) and summer (March, 1997-April, 1997). Seven distinct habitat types were identified for the study based on floristic and structural diversity. Seasonal data on 27 habitat structural variables were collected from bird-centered sampling plots. Point count census technique was employed to study the bird population. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was used to determine the patterns of inter-relationships among the habitat structural variables. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) was done to understand the relationships of habitat components to the distribution of bird communities. For guild analysis, two different sets criteria were used to identify the guilds among the bird populations viz., food type and foraging behaviour. Twelve guilds were recognized based on the food type and, six among the insectivores with respect to foraging behaviour. The results of the PCA showed that habitat structural variables of tropical deciduous forests have a marked pattern of inter-relationships on two axes of landscape behaviour, viz., heterogeneity and complexity. But they failed to reveal any such segregation vis-a-vis bird community structure, as the scale of measurement did not address all the members of the community. The spatial distribution pattern of bird communities in relation to habitat architecture was shown by CCA to be not very tenacious; the interactions of other extraneous factors like floristics, habitat dynamics, phenophases of vegetation, disturbance, or interactions within the community may influence the habitat selection process. There was no linear correlation observed between Foliage Height Diversity and Bird Species Diversity; possible explanations and alternative views have been discussed briefly. The response of bird communities to floristics was found to be inconsistent across habitat types as positive linear relationship was detected only for Teak-dominant forests in winter, and for Anogeiss Boswellia forests and Cleistanthus collinus woodland in summer. Guild compositions of various habitat types were not found to be significanty different from each other though the seasonal change was consistent across all the habitats.Item The Grey tit (Parus major caschmerensis) in Northern India: Behaviour and Ecology in the non-breeding season(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 1995) Quader, Suhel; Johnsingh, A.J.T.; Qureshi, QamarStudied the grey tit (Parus major caschmerensis) in Naina Devi Sanctuary. in the Shivalik hills of the Himachal Pradesh Himalaya. This is a subspecies of the well-studied great tit which ranges over a large part of Eurasia. The study had two main components: a. to investigate the non-breeding behaviour and ecology of this bird in India, and to interpret the findings with respect to what is known about the species from more northern areas (a comparative approach). b. to study the behaviour of individuals in the context of short· and long-tenn processes (in the winter, examples of these might be survival and reproduction. respectively), I collected data on colour-banded grey tits by following individuals, and recording behaviour using the point-sampling technique with one-minute intervals. Field work was carried out between December 1994 and April 1995. Throughout this study, I refer to the subspecies in India as grey tits, those studied in Europe and Japan as the great tit, and to the species as a whole as Parus major. In a comparison with what is known about great tits, the following points emerge: .Grey tits do not spend the winter in flocks of conspecifics; instead. they are either solitary or in pairs. This is associated with comparatively high winter temperatures, and may be the result of a low seasonality in resource abundance allowing for greater territorial site-fidelity. Sexual dimorphism in bill shape mirrors that found in a previous study on great tits in England, where males have deeper and shorter beaks than females, tend to forage more on beech seeds, and are more efficient at doing so than females. Grey tits show a sexual dimorphism in beak shape paralleling this, and males exhibit a strong tendency to forage more on Acacia catechu (from which largely pods are taken) than females, implying that similar ecomorphological processes can operate in populations widely separated in space. Grey tits use a wider variety of foraging substrates than their more northern counterparts, and correspondingly spend less time foraging on the ground. This is' associated with the absence of any congeners, although whether it is a case of competitive release is open to dispute. The Indian birds seem to spend more time feeding than what has been reported for English great tits. The greater time spent feeding is perhaps unexpected given the comparatively higher winter temperatures, and longer day-lengths in Naina Devi than in northern Europe. While a strict comparison of different studies may not be entirely valid, the solitary/pair living habit of grey tits may result in lower levels of aggression, and this may allow for more feeding time. The date of laying is related to the duration for which the male and female have been together (i.e pairing date). Birds which paired early bred early, though this is based on a limited sample of four pairs. If this relationship is causal, and if reproductive success decreases through the breeding season (as has been shown for many temperate species), it would imply a strong selection pressure for early pairing in the great tit. As breeding approached, males spent less time feeding than in the winter, and were involved in greater territorial activity such as singing. Female time budgets showed a similar, though nonsignificant trend over the season. Pooling sexes, the proportion of time spent tended towards a decrease as summer drew near. This decrease approached statistical significance.